ESCAPE: How can I escape?
"Help! I'm trapped. How can I escape?" This is the cry of the thinker. Why? Because THE most difficult feat of thinking is to escape from your point-of-view. All of us are trapped in the special world we create for ourselves in our brain, our own unique viewpoint, our CVS. Your world and my world are different. You are trapped in your CVS as surely as I am trapped in my CVS.

CVS: MAIN POINT What is the main point about this CVS?
Every CVS is dominated by a Main Point. For example, the main point about drug abuse is to ban drugs. Or, the main point about losing weight is dieting. The main point about an argument is winning. When we want to make an escape from a CVS its easier if we become aware of the main point. Identifying the main point in a CVS shows us more clearly what we need to escape from. When we can see the main point we can see what we may need to change.

TENPOWER: The Powers of Ten - How can I X10 this?
Tenpower is a measurement tool. Measurement is a very important skill for the brainuser to develop. It's also a big help in finding a way out of our CVS. For example, a BVS is a decimal of a CVS. A CVS is also a decimal of a BVS. In other words, they are related by powers of ten. Sometimes a BVS is ten times smaller than a CVS. Other times it is ten times greater. The deliberate or habitual use of the number 10 is called Tenpower. Ten times better may be ten times more, or ten times less, or ten units forward or ten units back. It's the deliberate use of tenpower as a provocation to get you to escape from your CVS. Tenpower helps you to switch patterns of perception. That's all. While it is not important that the number ten is accurately used, its use is a powerful escape mechanism. Take an X10 leap with tenpower.

WHY? Why do I have this CVS?
Asking 'Why?' is one of the most effective ways to begin the escape from your CVS. Asking 'Why?' is a challenge. Asking 'Why?' means you have stopped, for the moment, defending your CVS and have opened your mind to fresh information. For example, here are ten Whys to challenge a CVS:
1. Why is this so inconvenient?
2. Why do I have this CVS?
3. Why do our customers hate this?
4. Why is this so complicated?
5. Why is it organised this way?
6. Why is this my reaction?
7. Why is this so difficult?
8. Why is this so unsafe?
9. Why does it make this noise?
10. Why can't I improve this?

WHY NOT? Why not do this differently?
Why not change this CVS to that BVS? The 'Why not' question is a good way to introduce change. 'Why not' is a signpost for a BVS. Here are ten 'Why nots' you can use to find a BVS:
1. Why not reverse this sequence or rotate it?
2. Why not eliminate this task?
3. Why not do this differently?
4. Why not ask someonelse for their opinion?
5. Why not change the shape, sound, smell, location etc?
6. Why not expand it (longer, bigger, duplicate, exaggerate)?
7. Why not reduce it (remove, smaller, divide, simplify, lighten)?
8. Why not use an alternative (approach, person, method, attitude)?
9. Why not increase the repetition?
10. Why not borrow an idea (combining, adapting, experimenting)?

OPPORTUNITY? What is the opportunity here?
Escaping from a CVS involves risk and uncertainty. So there must be a positive gain or an upside to make the CVS to BVS switch worthwhile. To help define the benefits of changing we need to focus on the main opportunity for doing so. There may be an opportunity to save money or time. There may be an opportunity to prevent a future problem. The exercise is to try to see the main opportunity in the proposed BVS.

WHO? Who can help?
One of the quickest ways to escape from your CVS is to ask another thinker for their point-of-view. Since no two human brains are exactly alike each person has a valid, but different, CVS. Their CVS might be your BVS. We can ask our partners, our children, our customers, our enemies, our experts or any other thinker.

STAIRWAY? Where's a stairway I can use?
Suppose you are stuck on the ground floor trying to watch a parade go by and your view, your CVS, is limited. If only you had a better view. You look around and find a step-ladder with ten steps. As you climb each step your view of the parade gets better. Ten steps later you have a BVS. Tenpower is how we use the number 10 to escape from our CVS up the ladder to a BVS.

JUST SUPPOSE?
Just suppose I sat on a light beam. What would I see? This is the question Albert Einstein asked himself at 16. By the time he had answered it five years later he had made the greatest single discovery ever made by a human brain. Asking 'Just Suppose' is a great way to surprise yourself and to get outside your own head. Use random connections. Take quantum leaps. Just suppose my car could talk, what would it say? Just suppose I was boss, what would I do? Just suppose my house was a pineapple .... ?

START: How can I get started?
Make a Startlist. Most races are lost, not at the finish-line, but at the start. Why? Because most of us, most of the time just never get started. There are four steps in making a Startlist:
1. Take a piece of paper.
2. Write the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 down the left side of the paper.
3. Then just fill in this list, in any random way you like, with words, phrases, bits of information etc.
4. Harvest your list. You've created an information field and given your brain something to harvest. You have already started!

DO: What do I do now?
Once we move from thought into action we immediately create feedback. Our actions have consequences and it is these consequences that enable us to evaluate the effectiveness of our behaviour. When in doubt, do something. Anything. What do I do now?

NOTICE: What do I need to notice?
The basis of all science is observation and measurement - noticing things. A clever thinker is a clever noticer and the skill of noticing is looking for feedback.

THINK: How can I create movement?
There is no "right" way to think. The key to thinking is movement. Movement through the cognos, movement through think-space, movement through the universe of possible thoughts. Whether you move out or in or up or down, sideways, backwards or upside-down reverse pikes, it doesn't matter. Whether you take great leaps, use stepping-stones, random provocations, lateral thinking, flip-a-coin, or fantastic images, it all works. Whether you use intuition, alpha-visualisations, TM, tarot cards, I-Ching, runes, prayer, auto-suggestion, cognetics, hypotheticals, scientific method, professional counselling, net surfing or "ask the oracle" - it all adds up to movement.

DO IT NOW: How many Now! moments are there in a day?
When to Start? There is really only one time to start called ... Now! Just suppose a Now! moment is one second, the time it takes to start something is one second. How long does it take to pick up the telephone? One second. How long does it take to start to get up to go for a walk. One second. How many Now! moments are there in a day? I'll save you the trouble of the maths. It's 84,000. If not Now, when?

NEXT: What's my next move?
In the game of chess we are always faced with our next move. This is based on the feedback from our opponent;s move. What do I do next? The same applies in the game of life. Life is fluid. It just keeps moving. There is always feedback from others to consider and then ... what's my next move? What do I DO, next?

SEARCH: What am I looking for?
What information am I seeking? What phrase should I be searching for? What word can I google? You can use the internet search engines--Google, Yahoo and others--to put in any phrase, press the SEARCH button, and the search engine will search the entire internet for references to your requested phrase. But you can do that with or without the internet. You can use any reference source at home, at school or at the library. But first, you have to ask yourself: What am I searching for?

STRATEGY: How should I think strategically about this?
The two main thinking strategies are: 1 Judge, and 2 Design. Due to the Right/Wrong system we are automatically inclined to judge things. However, we also have the option of design. As a thinker, we have the option of adding value, of improving things. So before jumping in with our judgement boots we can ask: How should I think about this: judge or design?

QUALITY: How can I make this much better?
Quality is important. As a thinker you're concerned with adding value to the situation the quest for quality. Contrast this with the dumb 'whatever-I-can-get-away-with' attitude. Quality is better. The habit of quality is the habit of finding a better way, a better possibility, a better view, a better choice, a better alternative, a better outcome, a better attitude, a better opinion, a better life.

HUMOUR: What is quite funny about this?
Humour involves the appreciation of oddness. In humour there is the willingness to enjoy seeing the OTHER SIDE of things, the willingness to see fresh points of view, to see them and appreciate them without necessarily feeling the need to adopt them as one's own. Humour includes flexibility in the way we can look at information, the humour of creativity, and the humour of insight. Humour means seeing things in a different way. Appreciating the value of differences. There's the humour of wisdom, the humour of balance and tolerance, the humour of plurality. The enjoyment of surprise, chance and variety. The good mood, the sound of laughter, good humour and good health.

LAUGHTER: How can this be more fun?
Productivity is Fun! Whether you're in the factory, at school, at home, at sport, in the laboratory or on the stock market the structure of humour is identical to the structure of quantum leaps, paradigm shifts, changes of mind, innovation, risk-taking with their subsequent rise in productivity. Where these things flourish you will always hear the sound of laughter. In business, the Clever Company must have a sense of humour. It must have a culture that encourages surprise, experimentation, laughter and the continual search for a BVS.

MOOD: What mood am I in?
Mood is important. In general, there are four main moods. Up. Down. Active. Passive. Moods are caused by the chemical balance in the brain and are a major influence on our CVS. Imagine if everyone wore a pin or badge which indicated what mood they were in. How would it help? What if you knew whether you were in an Up/Passive mood or if she was in a Down/Active mood? What mood are you in now?

OPINION: What's the spin?
All opinions have a spin. For example, is the glass of wine half full or half empty. Depends on the spin you put on it. In the media, spin is so important that they have 'spin doctors' who labour to craft public opinion. For the individual thinker the main question about opinion spin is to ask yourself: Is my opinion based on Prejudice or Tolerance? Prejudice means a biased spin. Tolerance means an even spin. Prejudice is the "I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong" spin. Tolerance is the "I-am-right-and-you-are-right" spin.

VIRTUAL BOARD: Who can I ask for advice?
Most large institutions have a Board of Directors. Why not use a Virtual Board of Directors? Your Virtual Board is happy to meet in your mind whenever you want. You can appoint anyone you want, as a non-paid Director, from the past, present or future. You can choose board members for different reasons; for speech coaching, for dress, for conversation, for decision-making, for wit, for compassion, for looks, for stimulation, for provocation, for encouragement, for sentimental reasons or for inspiration. You can get advice, support and guidance, free of charge, and on-call anytime, any place. It's also great fun to do!

PRACTICE: How can I get more practise at this?
When we face a new skill we feel awkward and clumsy. We are unsure and we make many mistakes. That's OK. Take juggling. It's no surprise that a brand new juggler will not be able to juggle. However, just add a couple hours of practice and the brain develops the necessary patterns to perform the skill of juggling. That's what practice really is, it's brain patterning. That's how you learned to brush your teeth or drive your car. Your brain has virtually unlimited potential but it does require patterning to perform. According to Queen Elizabeth, "You can do a lot if you are properly trained."

REPETITION: What is the pattern here?
What is a pattern? A pattern is a series of repetitions. Like wallpaper, a national highway system, techno music or a work week. Since your brain works as a patterning system, there is no greater magic you can use on your brain than the magic of repetition. We are using repetition in the X10 tutorials to ensure that you can form the brain patterns that empower you to use the brain software CVS to BVS with ever increasing skill. The more repetitions, the stronger the pattern, the greater the results. As you know by now, repetition is quintessential to replicators. Although many people think repetition is unfashionable you will have noticed the unusual amount of repetition in this book. This is to serve your ability to acquire these memes. The most important memes are the ones that are invested with the most repetition in these tutorials.

LOG BOOK: How can I record my training hours?
Would you let a surgeon operate on you who knew the first and second name of every cell in your body but had zero hours logged in the operating theatre with a scalpel? Would you fly in a Cessna with a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering who had no Pilot's Log Book? No. The first thing we look at to evaluate a pilot's skill is her Log Book. How many hours? The currency of skill development is hours of training. 1 hour. 10 hours. 100 hours. 1000 hours. The more hours in the log book, the stronger the skill. The stronger the skill the greater the results. Log your training hours to manage your skills. Even 10 hours training in your log book will put you in the top 1% of the population for most skills.

CONTINUOUS TRAINING
When it comes to training, continuity gets the best results. The great Samurai, Musashi, wrote, "The essence of strategy is to train day and night". Most of us don't need to be trained at the level of the Samurai but in a competitive world we do need some edge. The best way to secure that 'unfair advantage' is daily training. Even 10 minutes a day, every day, will put you on top. If you have a continuous training system that gives you the opportunity for daily training you have a guaranteed strategy for success. The School of Thinking's daily breadmail system is a simple example of continuous training.

REWARD: What can I use as a reward?
A reward is anything that is perceived as such by the person being rewarded. It may be a wink or a smile. A pat or a handshake. It may be a kookaburra stamp on a workbook or an afternoon off work. A round of applause, a special plaque, a ribbon, a medal, a title, or even a celestial kingdom may be a reward for many people. A reward may be for one's own self, for another, or for the system. Nothing gets better results than rewarding.

OUTPUTS: What is the desired output here?
Outputs are results and we do want results. They are what you get when you use your skill. They are the products left behind once the job is done. Outputs are the whole reason for having skills. Better outputs are the reason for training better skills. Outputs are what you want and come from your goals or objectives. Outputs are the specific areas where you expect results. Outputs are the measurement of your success. For example, a business person wants profits, sales and customer service. An family wants better health, wealth, and security for its members. The X10 memeplex focuses on helping you get these outputs

MOTIVATION: Do I need some motivation?
In addition to rewards, motivation can come from a ranking or rating system. In the martial arts like karate, coloured belts are used to rate skill levels and provide motivation for advancement. The School of Thinking has a series of different certificate levels to give recognition and motivation to those who want to increase their brainpower.

To demonstrate the point that there's no 'right' way to X10 and that there is no shortage of ways to X10, here is a further list of 100 more provocations SOT members say they have used to help CVS X10.

You may have used many of these and you can add to the list:
- BROWSE A SHOPPING MALL - KARMA IS COMING
- SPEED WINS `- VISIT A GALLERY/COLLECTION
- 'RIGHTNESS' IS RELATIVE - DEFINE YOUR GOAL
- LOCATE THE GAPS - GET MORE ENERGY
- DELEGATE - KNOW THE PLAYERS
- DO SOME RESEARCH - ASK TEN PEOPLE
- BEAT THE SCHEDULE - WHAT DO THEY WANT?
- SHARE 50/50 - 'TRUTH' IS IMPERFECT
- STARTLINE & DEADLINE - GIVE IT UP
- DO A SWOT - ASK A CHILD
- DREAM ABOUT IT
- DISRUPT YOUR ROUTINE - GET SOME FEEDBACK
- HAVE A REMINDER
- MAKE IT UP - BROWSE A BOOKSHOP
- VISIT A TRADE SHOW/EXHIBITION
- GO TO A MOVIE - MAKE A MODEL
- FRAME A QUESTION - PICK UP SPEED/ACCELERATE
- DEFINE SUCCESS - SELF-ASSESSMENT LIST
- TURN THE OTHER CHEEK - DON'T JOIN THE CLUB
- TOSS A COIN - USE A DICTIONARY/THESAURUS
- DON'T STOP NOW - CONFIRM THE DECISION
- FIND THE WASTE - HOW MUCH DETAIL?
- CAN WE RECYCLE - SECOND OPINION
- SEND A CARD - FIND A SUPPORT TEAM
- HOW TO CHOOSE
- DEAL WITH OBSTACLES - CHANGING GOALS
- FACTORS INVOLVED - ENLARGE THE TARGET
- COMPLAIN - GO THE EXTRA MILE
- SPECIALISE
- GOOGLE/YAHOO SEARCH - GETTING STARTED
- YES DECISION/NO DECISION
- DEALING WITH CRISIS - CHANGE GEARS
- EASY DECISIONS FIRST - OFFER HELP
- WHAT IS THE BARRIER - THREE BEST OPTIONS
- COMPARISON SHOPPING - IMPROVE MY AIM
- WHAT IS CAUSING CONFUSION - ACCELERATE DISASTER
- REMOVE OPTIMISM - CREATE A DIVERSION
- WORK BACKWARDS
- CALL THE BOSS
- LESSEN FRICTION
- TOP-DOWN
- WHAT NEXT
- MAKE TEN CALLS

Many cultures for hundreds of thousands of years have addressed this topic. There have been spiritual approaches, metaphysical approaches, philosophical approaches and, more recently, scientific approaches to this paramount question of homo sapiens … ‘what is thinking?’

My personal view of thinking, from 30 years of working in the field of cognitive science, is all about escaping and searching.

So, in the School of Thinking we teach that thinking is an acquired skill that can be learned and practised. There are natural cognitive patterns that are built in the brain through a combination of genetic history and cultural imitation and thinking skill is how we can learn to escape from these natural patterns and search for much better ones. This, after all, IS the scientific method.

I have condensed this scientific approach to the simplest expression of the Theory of Thinking: e + s = t.

What is the School of Thinking? How did it get started? How do you teach a person to think? How much does it cost? How do you fund the School of Thinking? How does it work in schools and on the curriculum? Who created the ‘6 Thinking Hats’? What is the ‘Australian Thinker of the Year‘ Award?

ABC interview with Michael who discusses his motivations for starting the School of Thinking. From his experience as a Vietnam veteran he saw the need for much better thinking in the world. Especially the need for young people to learn to think for themselves so they can acquire intellectual independence and are less likely to be bullied by Big Government, Big Religion or Big Business.